MORE than 500 students from all over Devon will be testing the waters of science at a major schools event at Paignton Zoo this week.

The WH2Ose Water Science Fair takes place at the zoo tomorrow and Friday.

The zoo says some 520 primary and secondary pupils will join in with a variety of workshops, including chromatography, seaweed with staff from Living Coasts and plankton with Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, bubbles, water and aquatic adaptation, and products from the sea.

Students will be able to explore a number of marine specimens, including a whale vertebrae, a nautilus shell and the snout of a swordfish.

A workshop is being run by the English Riviera Geopark and will show how the force of the sea has shaped Torbay in the past and how it is likely to influence the future.

A spokesman for Paignton Zoo said: "The aim of the fair and of the WH2Ose Water partnership is to engage young people with science, excite them about the possibilities and to communicate the thrill of the subject.

"Science is about the real world all around us: we see science, use science and benefit from science every single day."

The event has been short-listed as one of three finalists in a competition to find the best science and engineering event in National Science and Engineering Week 2009.

The WH2Ose Water partners are Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts, Devon Education Business Partnership, Torbay Council, AstraZeneca, Torquay Natural History Museum, Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, and South West Water.

The youngsters attending are from primary and secondary students. Primary schools expected tomorrow include Galmpton, Homelands, Coombe Pafford, Sherwell Valley, Chudleigh, Rydon, Bishopsteignton, Abbey, Sacred Heart and Torbay School.

Secondary schools on Friday include Torquay Boys' Grammar, Paignton Community College, Trinity, St Cuthbert Mayne, Torbay School, Brixham Community College, Churston Ferrers Grammar, Torquay Girls' Grammar.